musings on life both at sea and ashore

Fall at the Orchard

It has been far too long since my last post, but we had no idea how intense the picking season would be at the orchard. Originally, the idea behind the tiny house was that we could stay here once or twice a week as needed. The reality is that we have barely been to Bear Creek since July!

The pace has been relentless. For those who farm, this will come as no surprise, but for those like me who did not grow up on a farm, this has been an eye opening experience.. and I am simply living it through my wife who is actually the one employed at the orchard! So what does the husband of the farm worker do? “Can you help jug cider?” ” Would you mind delivering apples to Scranton?” “Could you get the forklift and bring a bin of apples to the grader?” “would you like to spend 12 hours selling apples with me on Saturday at a festival?” 🙂 that is a taste of what life is like when your wife works at an orchard.. ( of course, there is only one right answer to all of these questions!)

Until this past weekend, I was the helper when it came to making cider.. but Saturday I was on my own.. and the cider stock was running low.. so I pretended that I knew what I was doing.. and I made my first 120 gallons of cider.. before loading the truck and heading out on a delivery.. Sunday morning we started jugging it at 6:00 am.. before heading out on another delivery.. wow.. i guess it is a good thing that I happen to be on break from school!

The picture above is the same set of peach trees that I mis-identified in a post early this past spring.. most of the leaves are now on the ground.. The peaches and plums are long gone.. the apples and pears are stored.. and soon it will be pruning time. We have learned a lot over the past 5 months.. and we are loving the tiny house.. I finally got the last of the exterior siding finished last week.. so the house is buttoned up and cozy – ready for whatever winter has to offer.

They are telling us that the storm that is headed up the coast ( which might interfere with our Thanksgiving travel plans) may be stronger than fist anticipated.. I am looking forward to taking a picture of the house with snow on the roof, but I would prefer that it would be next week! in any event, I will post one as soon as I get the opportunity.